Possible Crayfish Eggs

Great still in the same tank I see I remember saying to you he looked z bit gig in that pagoda but you said he had cleared out underneath so he must have outgrown everything, mine as decided to moult while still carrying young, I don't know what's going to happen now

 

I have been summoned, what is needed? Crayfish babies were born?

 

TheDarkAbyss to save you looking I've brought the questions forward for you from CaptainAquatics looking for advise cheers richie
So yesterday I picked up 3 fiddler crabs (1 male, 2 female) and I would like some advice. I know fiddler crabs should be in brackish water but the last fiddler crab I had died about a month after introducing brackish water. I read on some site that you should put in 1/4 per 5 gallons for fiddler crabs but that 5 gallon isn’t fully filled so I have been putting in roughly 1/7 of a cup in. Is that why the fiddler might have died? He died shortly after a molt and he was housed alone. I did notice he never really left the brackish water and only occasionally moved around. I have (and had for him) a whole cave setup with a small pool of freshwater in case he didn’t want to be in brackish and I have (and had for him) a big platform of land. For these guys I made the opining to the cave larger (it was pretty small) and I made the platform of land more acessible. Does this sound good for them? I will post pics in a little bit. If this sounds good for them could I expect them to breed, and should I expect live fiddler crabs to come from it? Thanks

 

Alright, I think I'll hit him up with a PM, though 1/4 per 5 gallons sounds a bit much, personally. I'd try and attain a specific gravity of 1.005-1.010 than estimates.

Edit: Nevermind, this is his thread, I didn't notice that lol

TheDarkAbyss to save you looking I've brought the questions forward for you from CaptainAquatics looking for advise cheers richie
So yesterday I picked up 3 fiddler crabs (1 male, 2 female) and I would like some advice. I know fiddler crabs should be in brackish water but the last fiddler crab I had died about a month after introducing brackish water. I read on some site that you should put in 1/4 per 5 gallons for fiddler crabs but that 5 gallon isn’t fully filled so I have been putting in roughly 1/7 of a cup in. Is that why the fiddler might have died? He died shortly after a molt and he was housed alone. I did notice he never really left the brackish water and only occasionally moved around. I have (and had for him) a whole cave setup with a small pool of freshwater in case he didn’t want to be in brackish and I have (and had for him) a big platform of land. For these guys I made the opining to the cave larger (it was pretty small) and I made the platform of land more acessible. Does this sound good for them? I will post pics in a little bit. If this sounds good for them could I expect them to breed, and should I expect live fiddler crabs to come from it? Thanks

From what I can gather, I can't tell if the male died from too much salt or foods, but fiddlers (and many other crabs) are quite social! If you say that he just occasionally moved around, is it in quick bursts or in sluggish manners? If the latter, he could've already been dying from the store. Speaking of this land, is it smooth or coarse, like lava rock? Smooth surfaces easily break the sharp tips of the crabs' legs, and can cause a slow death. Same with the substrate, it has to be a soft one like sand or a very fine gravel. Anything other than that will grind their tips.

 

Hi! Here is a pic of the tank:
I am in a rush I will give more detail when I can

Hi! I am no longer in a rush and can give some more detail now. So the main water there is has about 1/8 of a cup of salt in it as it is about 2 gallons. I haven't been able to find a cheap salt tester (forgot what they are called) but I want to get one (do you know where I can get a cheap one?). I also read your post and see that they perfer sand? Since they do I am going to run to Home Depot and get some play sand (never put this in aquariums, how do I clean it?). I also plan to redo the tank putting in less salt. Any more suggestions?

 

Okay play sand is great, just rinse it until it comes off clear in a large bucket. Cheap salt testers or hygrometers are usually in the form of those two in one thermometer hygrometer sets, I bought mine for $3 in my LFS. And when I mix salt and water, I usually make bulk and mix it in a bucket and try to get as close gravity as I want, which is 1.005-1.010. For resting places always go for porous, rigid things like lava rock and never go smooth surfaces on land. Maybe a little mineral block or a piece of cuttlebone on the land since all crabs will need a lot of calcium and a standby amount never hurts.

 

TheDarkAbyss thanks for the info, how should I get my crabs the right amount of calcium? Do they get it through the water?

 

Like I said, maybe you could put a small plate containing a calcium block or cuttlebone on the land portion if they ever feel the need to pick on it at anytime. They will also get it through foods that are specialized for shrimp and other crustaceans, and you can give them some chunks of broccolI from time to time. An internal filter will work best for this setup but of course one can make a waterfall setup using a HOB if desired.

As for breeding, I have no idea if one could manage it. The larvae travel into deep waters, feeding on microfauna until they are ready to morph into young copies of their parents.

 

Hi! I currently don’t have a filter for the tank and just do weekly waterchanges and put a air stone and heater in there. I plan to get a sling filter for the tank soon. Here is the new setup that I made last night for them:
You can actually see two of the crabs. The water cleared up this morning (this was taken right after I put the crabs back in so the water haven’t settled yet). The ledge thing has gravel sprinkled on it because you said they need some rough stuff on land, but other than that it is all sand. I do plan to add a little more land today but I live up north and the only play sand I could get was frozen and I didn’t want to defrost it all last night, lol. Let me know what you think (BTW the air stone is behind the castle as well as the heater)

 

This setup is quite nice, yes. You can sprinkle sand onto the land gravel so they would feel even more inclined to exit the water from time to time. Weekly water changes is completely fine, and the airstone is a very good call, these crabs appreciate well-aerated waters. Land-to-water ratio is very good, only thing missing now is the calcium block/cuttlebone on land and a male. As a general rule of thumb, fiddlers go well with 1 male to 2 females, but I like to go further with 1 male and 3-4 females, which yours can fit well enough, given enough hiding holes in both land and water.

While I may not have fiddlers anymore (they're very hard to come by where I come from), I do have Red Apple Crabs, only 3 of them right now housed in my first vivarium

 

TheDarkAbyss I actually do have a male. I have three crabs in total, 2 females and a male. Where can I get cuttlebone? I had to drive like a hour and a half away to get these guys, I feel your pain :/

 

Oh, I thought you meant that one of the three fiddlers died, and it was a male, not that you had a previous fiddler male that died before they arrived. Cuttlebones are usually found in aviaries and shops where there's birds, they pick on the bone for the exact same reason as the crabs: calcium

 

Hi! So one of the female crabs died today. It looked like she was molting and got stuck in one of the hides mid molt and couldn’t get out? Does this tend to happen?

 

Did she die while still in the molt or do you mean she got stuck at a part of the hide and couldn't move? And is it on land or water? Fiddlers usually molt underwater, and a death mid-molt is either a kh problem or low calcium.

 

She was underwater molting. It looks like she wasn’t totally done molting. I think she could move where she got stuck but it is possible she couldn’t. I have had the other female molte no problem.

 

Hello all! Do crayfish Perfer sand or gravel. I am taking out my crayfish’s main hide (because it is getting to small and sometimes he gets stock for like a day) and figured I have some extra sand from the crab tank remake. So we I’m doing that I could replace the crayfishs substrate is he would perfer sand. If he doesn’t I won’t do anything but what would you say?

 

I tried using sand for my Cherax crayfishes before, they don't mind. In fact they dig a whole lot, moving lots of hardscape!

 

Would you say they prefer it?

 

I think you're best with either, your crayfish might want to burrow and make it's own hide under a log with sand.

 

Hi, circling back around to the crayfish for a minute. When can I expect eggs, I just took out her main hide (because she kept getting stuck) and I don’t see any eggs, any idea when I can start to expect eggs? Thanks

 

HI everyone! I know it’s been a while but he still hasn’t gone back to normal. I changed up his tank and continue to feed him, however he has stopped accepting food. He will grab a price, eat it for like 1 min then drop it and leave it. Any idea on how I could help him? I was thinking I could do a VERY LARGE clean out of his tank since it is somewhat dirty and rescape it but I don’t want to stress him, do you think that would help (I would take him out while I did the re-scape nd major clean out). What do you all think?

Canaculus TheDarkAbyss
richie.p

 

Gosh. its been over a month since this started. But she has moved to a new bigger cave? Is she now not coming out of the new one? Mine eat like constantly. I do have one that rarely comes out but she eats like a pig, I use long tweezers to feed most of my wer pets. Do you have pest snails or live plants? Mine will also eat the feeder snails that are in all my tanks, and I toss in any plant clippings, or else they usually have a piece of of ZucchinI or grean bean. Then I feed salmon or shrimp chunks at night. So she should be eating. Did you ever upgrade to the 20 long? What are uou feeding her? Are your water perameters ok? I know some people have ended up with Ammonia in their water unknowingly spiking the tank with each water change. I'm just tossing things out there. If you haven't upgraded yet, id do it, giving you the chance to rescape.

 

If there's one thing crayfish hate is dirty water or tank and have been known to escape to try and find better conditions, don't know if this is what happening here, I wouldn't worry about stress as she's probably stressed anyway, as she moulted with you yet, this as been a strange one from the start, give her a full clean out it certainly won't do any harm

 

Gosh. its been over a month since this started. But she has moved to a new bigger cave? Is she now not coming out of the new one? Mine eat like constantly. I do have one that rarely comes out but she eats like a pig, I use long tweezers to feed most of my wer pets. Do you have pest snails or live plants? Mine will also eat the feeder snails that are in all my tanks, and I toss in any plant clippings, or else they usually have a piece of of ZucchinI or grean bean. Then I feed salmon or shrimp chunks at night. So she should be eating. Did you ever upgrade to the 20 long? What are uou feeding her? Are your water perameters ok? I know some people have ended up with Ammonia in their water unknowingly spiking the tank with each water change. I'm just tossing things out there. If you haven't upgraded yet, id do it, giving you the chance to rescape.

Hi! When I get home I plan to pretty much change out all the water and I plan to take out the gravel and clean it really well so that the tank is 100% clean. I think I am going to up my water changes as I have only been doing about 25% a week. No I have not upgraded yet, I am saving up though. I do not have any plants to put in however I could put in some snails, however I really don't want snails in that tank. I do plan to changes up the tank and I have a really good idea for the scape (I will post pics when I do it). I feed her algae wafers everyday (now that I think about it maybe because she isn't eating the wafers are causing an issue while they decompose). I think my water parameters are fine but I haven't tested for a week or two. She did move to a bigger cave where I can see her in it, she comes out sometimes but it is usually just in the morning when I first turn on the light, and she darts to her cave when I do.

If there's one thing crayfish hate is dirty water or tank and have been known to escape to try and find better conditions, don't know if this is what happening here, I wouldn't worry about stress as she's probably stressed anyway, as she moulted with you yet, this as been a strange one from the start, give her a full clean out it certainly won't do any harm

It is possible that water parameters are the issue, that is why I am doing a 90% water change when I get home. She will just have to go in a tupper wear while I do that :/ Also to my knowledge she hasn't tried to escape.

 

She's been Been a handful from the start this one, just out of curiosity if you have a camera that'll do a night video to see if she's nocturnal by choice she's lasted this long she must be eating. As she moulted

 

She's been Been a handful from the start this one, just out of curiosity if you have a camera that'll do a night video to see if she's nocturnal by choice she's lasted this long she must be eating. As she moulted

To my knowledge, no she has not molted in a while. Yes I do have live stream cameras on my tanks at all times, I can focus on my crayfish so I can see if she is movin at night. I am sure she is eating she just isn’t eating as much. She used to take down a pellet a day with ease, now she is barely eating 25% of one.

I have these cameras on my aquariums. They are Wyze cameras:

 

well before you rip it all out tonight is it worth doing a bit of spying it may save you ripping it all out, on saying that if you'r like me you won't be satisfied until you do it

 

When I get home, this is my plan:
1- remove crayfish from its tank
2- completely drain tank (except for a small little bit
3- unplug filter and heater
4- clean out filter
5- remove + clean all gravel in tank
6- scrub tank glass
7- fill tank up 50%
8- re-scape the tank to make one big cave and lots of space
8- finish filling tank
9- put equipment back in tank
10- add crayfish back in tank
11- continue to monitor and feed crayfish and hope she gets better
12- direct camera in tank

well before you rip it all out tonight is it worth doing a bit of spying it may save you ripping it all out, on saying that if you'r like me you won't be satisfied until you do it

Ya, I really want to re-do the tank tonight

There is no harm in doing it.

 

What do you think of my plan?

 

Doing 200%water change don't you risk starting another cycle, would the fresh water kill off your filter, I don't know

 

Hi! I just finished re-doing the tank and the crayfish is just acclimating right now (because the temps were a bit off). It is still foggy but what do you think?


The filter was DISGUSTING, I think that the filter wasn’t actually filtering out bad things anymore so I think that’s prob why he has been struggling. That is the one point in which I have to improve in fish keeping, remembering to clean my filters

What do you think?

 

100% it was probably just cycling bad stuff, I actually got my 15 filters on alarm so I never miss them and ide never remember what order otherwise, hopefully little cray will have a party tonight, infront of the camera or he may go quiet for a few days because of the fresh change, I bet you glad you decided to do that now knowing the mess on your filter

Are you feeding her veg

 

Yes

 

Hi! Quick update, ever since I have re-done the tank the crayfish is being much more like he used to be. He hasn’t eaten this morning but I can see him movI around a lot.

He is currently digging out his hide which he set up in the sand side behind the volcano thing:

 

That's great maybe he just needed a good clean out hopefully you'll see s bit more of him

 

Well that's great. Hopefully she stays that way, I would however keep saving for a 20 Long. Petco is still having its $1 per gallon sale so it would be 20$ but tomorrow is the last day. I just found a 20 gallon for 8$ with the hood/light fixture and a heater, then I paid 2$ for the HOB at a thrift shop. I need to clean it all but elbow grease is free

I did want to clarify that you should not add any snails and live plants are pointless as well. I was only asking because they eat them both, I had wondered if that is why you werent seeing her eat, so don't bother adding either to the tank. But they are omnivores and need both plants and meat, algae tabs won't cut it. How old is she?